Various forms of agricultural conveyors are known for transferring grain or other particulate material from a source area to a target area, for example from a transport container to a bin or other storage type container. Transport containers generally involve a container supported for rolling movement along the ground by wheels spaced apart at opposing ends of the container. A hopper type discharge is then typically located between the wheels below the container for discharging into the auger which subsequently conveys the material to the storage container.
A common construction of an agricultural conveyor includes a main auger tube and a swinging feed auger which is pivotally coupled to the inlet end of the main auger tube. U.S. Pat. No. 5,184,715 to Feterl; U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,305,866 and 5,788,055 both to Stewart et al; U.S. Pat. No. 4,963,066 to Boppart; U.S. Pat. No. 4,603,775 to Plett; and U.S. Pat. No. 7,191,889 to Heley; and European Patent Application 0 684 198 disclose various examples of grain augers used for conveying particulate materials including a swing or feed auger. In each instance the main auger is supported on a wheeled frame for positioning of the discharge in alignment with the target area. The swing auger is provided at the inlet of the main auger for alignment with the source, for example the discharge hopper of a transport container.
Due to the swinging motion of the feed auger typically being driven by wheels on the inlet hopper of the feed auger which engage the ground, lifting of the feed auger is typically by a mechanism supported on the main auger tube above the feed auger in such a manner so as to prevent pivoting of the feed auger overtop of the main auger between two opposing lateral positions relative to the feed auger. Such movement of the feed auger would be desirable to allow collecting particulate material from two sources on opposing sides of the main auger while the conveyor remains connected to a towing vehicle such as a tractor.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,428,956 by Scherman discloses an improved feed auger assembly for a conveyor including first and second auger sections which are pivotal relative to one another allowing the loading hopper to be placed through an infinite number of positions about the inlet end of the main auger. A hydraulic cylinder drives pivotal movement of the second auger section relative to the main auger, but the hydraulic cylinder prevents pivoting of the auger sections across the main auger between two opposing sides of the main auger.